12 April 2009
Resurrection Sunday
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Fortress Chapel
Contingency Operation Site (C.O.S.) Sykes
Tall-afar, Iraq
BIG IDEA: When Christians are rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed - over and over again - they forget the PROMISES of GOD.
REFERENCES: Luke 8:1-2 (GNT) Some time later Jesus traveled through towns and villages, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God. The twelve disciples went with him, and so did some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (who was called Magadalene), from whom seven demons had been driven out; Matthew 28:2 (ESV) And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it; Matthew 27:66 (ESV) So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard; By Jewish reckoning, 3 days had transpired since the burial. Any part of a day was counted as a day; According to “Sacred Destinations” The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem is an alternative to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as the actual site of Jesus’ burial in Jerusalem. It was discovered in 1867 and is especially popular with Protestants as place of devotion; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 ESV (For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with eh Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with eh Scriptures, and the he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep); 1 Peter 3:18-19 ESV (For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison); John 20:1-18 (ESV) The Resurrection and the account of Jesus Appearing to Mary Magdalene; Matthew 28:11-15 (CEV) The Report of the Guard; Acts 10:34-43 (ESV) Gentiles Hear the Good News of “No Partiality from Peter; Mark 16:1-8 (ESV) The Resurrection; John 14:6 (ESV) I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; Zechariah 11:12-13 (ESV – be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver) Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter” – the lordly price at which I was priced by the. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter; Psalm 16:10 (ESV – Rise from the Dead) For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: John 20:1-10 (ESV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: John 20:1-10 (ESV)
III. READ THE TEXT: John 20:2 (ESV) So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
IV. PURPOSE: To inspire the hearers to affirm to others that when Christians are rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed - over and over again - they forget the PROMISES of GOD.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “STOLEN”
VI. INTRODUCTION:
He Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed! Happy Resurrection Sunday to all.
Due to situations and circumstances, have you ever temporarily forgotten the Hope that lies in the PROMISES OF GOD?
I submit to you today that when Believers are rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed by something or someone – they often forget the PROMISES OF GOD. So, I stopped by here this Resurrection Sunday Morning to remind all of the CHRISTIANS that whatsoever God has PROMISED – He’s able also to perform. For don’t you remember the Good Book says – in Romans 4:20 – that Abraham staggered NOT at the promises of God…
It has been said that the Founder of the Protestant Reformation – Martin Luther – once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. On the third day his wife came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes.
“Who’s dead?” he asked her. “God,” she replied. Luther scolded her, saying, “What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die.” “Well,” she replied, “the way you’ve been acting I was sure he had died!”
Likewise, as a chaplain/pastor, sometimes through my actions, (and my lack of faith in certain situations and circumstances) I have seemly forgotten the PROMISES OF GOD.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I can attest to the fact that everyday – on this side of heaven - has not always been mixed with “faith and sunshine” in my life;
I don’t know about you; but I can attest to the fact that sometimes “doubts and storms” have been raging in my life;
As a Christian, sometimes, I have found myself feeling rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed - over and over again – almost as if I had forgotten the PROMISES of GOD; and there was NO GOD on my side.
But this Resurrection Sunday Morning, “THERE’S GOOD NEWS BLOWING IN THE AIR.”
For “I KNOW … MY SAVIOR LIVES!”
I’m reminded of a prolific song writer who once wrote lyrics which says:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know who holds the future that life is worth the living; Just because He lives.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 1: As you may recall, on the First Resurrection Sunday Morning over twenty-one hundred years ago, two of Jesus’ followers, Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary, ….
a. … arrived on Resurrection Sunday Morning; they found the massive stone had been rolled away from the tomb where an angel wearing a bright white robe now sat.
b. The Gospel According to Matthew reports in Matthew 28:1-4 (ESV) that the Roman soldiers appeared to be dead.
c. But, it turned out, the soldiers were only stunned, and the authorities bribed them to spread the false rumor that Jesus’ body had been stolen (Matthew 28:11-15 CEV).
d. For don’t you remember the scriptures say (in Matthew 28:11-15 CEV): While the women were on their way, some soldiers who had been guarding the tomb went into the city.
e. They told the chief priests everything that had happened. So the chief priests met with the leaders and decided to bribe the Soldiers with a lot of money.
f. They said to the soldiers, tell everyone that Jesus’ disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 2: For they said - If the governor hears about this, we will talk to him. You won’t have anything to worry about.
a. So, the soldiers took the money and did what they were told. The Jewish people still … to this day … tell each other this story: STOLEN!
b. Ironically, in the 1870s history recants one of the nation’s largest counterfeiting rings was headquartered in central Illinois.
c. Problems arose for the gang when the gang’s master engraver was imprisoned.
d. As a result, soon their supply of counterfeit money was almost gone.
e. The gang needed an idea for freeing its gang master.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 3: So, its crew leader hatched a plot to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body. The goal was for President Lincoln’s remains to be held as ransom until the government paid $200,000 in gold and freed the gang’s master engraver.
a. History says the gang went to the cemetery, sawed the padlock off the iron door of Lincoln’s tomb, … pried the marble lid off the sarcophagus (coffin), … and attempted to lift the heavy wooden coffin.
b. The robbers were only able to move it about 15 inches before they were scared off and eventually caught 10 days later.
c. Likewise, my brothers and sisters, it has been said that the very first news of Resurrection Sunday was not good news at all.
d. In fact, as we enter our text (Chapter 20) this morning, the atmosphere causes us to feel like we have entered an entirely new world.
e. The landscape is calm, the shouts of “Crucify, crucify” from Good Friday are gone.
f. No sound is heard of nails being driven through his quivering flesh or weeping and groans from His compassionate family and friends.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 4: Jesus was buried before sundown on Friday (the day of preparation).
a. The storm is over and Jesus is ready to make his triumphant appearance.
b. No work or travel was done on the Sabbath, and early … this Sunday morning … over twenty-one hundred years ago, JESUS AROSE!!.
c. The fact of the matter is “None of the Gospel” actually records the actual event of the resurrection itself.
d. No one knows when Jesus came out of the tomb. But, everybody knows that HE DID!!
e. Matthew says, “There was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it” (Matthew 28:2).
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 5: Yet, the angel did not roll back the stone to allow Jesus out.
a. He was already out.
b. He had already risen.
c. The angel merely revealed that Jesus was gone.
d. It was terrible news that Mary Magdalene frantically … rattled, worried, anxious, and disturbed – …
e. She had even looked inside the TOMB … all she saw was that boulder had been MOVED …
f. She suddenly forgot the PROMISES of GOD …
g. And took off running with the pronouncement to Peter and John … that the body of Jesus had been TAKEN.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 6: Mary was just like us – at times she allowed anxiousness …. and her emotions to get the best of her … and caused her to FORGET THE PROMISES OF GOD.
a. For God’s Word had prophesied that the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (in Zechariah 11:12-13)
b. And the Messiah would rise from the dead (in Psalm 16:10).
c. Still, Mary was caught-up in the moment and thought that our Savior body was STOLEN.
d. John’s Gospel does not relate the angel’s appearance to Mary, but the other evangelists do.
e. Mark 16:7 states that the angel told Mary to tell Peter.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 7: Mary found Peter, and later John, and related her STOLEN story.
a. To Mary the only explanation for Jesus’ disappearance from the tomb was that either friends (Joseph and Nicodemus) or foes (Romans or Jews) had STOLEN his body.
b. The Good Book says John arrived at the tomb before Peter, but he did not enter.
c. Perhaps John thought about entering the tomb would make him defiled for 7 days. I don’t know and the Scripture doesn’t say!
d. John could see the linen wrappings lying there.
e. Perhaps, he thought to himself “ If someone had stolen the body, …
would they have left the grave clothes behind?”
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 8: The Good Book says, Peter entered the tomb without hesitation, fear or thought.
a. He (Peter) was able to initially summarize that the orderly arrangement of the grave clothes was indicative that there was no hurried removal of the body.
b. Disorder of the tomb and its contents would have been signs of Roman soldiers or thieves, yet in the tomb of Jesus there was no evidence of disorder.
c. On the other hand, the BIBLE indicates that both Peter and John believed MARY. For ultimately… the graves clothes supplied evidence of Christ’s body being STOLEN.
d. For verses 9-10 (of our pericope) says, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” …
e. Then the disciples went back to their homes …
f. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
g. And she saw two angels, in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
h. They said to her: Woman, why are you crying?
i. She answered, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!
j. Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there ….
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
CELEBRATION: (Isaiah 53:4-7):
He Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed!
The Good Book says: … Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
